Americans are stuck in an affordability crisis, with everything from housing to health care to education spiking over the last 20 years. One essential of modern life that’s become more costly is cellphones, which have jumped hundreds of dollars in recent years. Against that backdrop, the Trump Organization announced this week the launch of a new cellphone service with the president’s name attached. Trump Mobile, though, won’t make cellphones or plans cheap again — and Trump himself is one reason they’re so expensive.
While it is true that President Trump is not currently in charge of the Trump Organization, he is the first president in over 50 years to refuse to put his businesses in a blind trust. Instead, his assets are in a trust overseen by his son Donald Trump Jr. As a result, the president and his entire family are able to collect directly from his political dealings, seemingly in serial violation of ethics norms.
While Trump and his family profit from the licensing deal, Trump Mobile is a poor deal for consumers.
One of the largest sources of income listed in Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure, released last week, is $57 million from World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency platform that counts three of his sons among its co-founders. Just before his inauguration, Trump launched a meme coin, and last month he hosted a dinner at his golf club for the largest purchasers. All in all, Trump and the Trump Organization made over $500 million in 2024 alone.
Like many other Trump-branded products, Trump Mobile is a licensing agreement for the president’s name, in this case between the Trump Organization and a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), T1 Mobile LLC. That company is partnering with “all three major cellular carriers” (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile) to provide 5G service, and using Google’s Android operating system for its phone.
While Trump and his family profit from the licensing deal, Trump Mobile is a poor deal for consumers. At launch, its single prepaid wireless plan is $47.45 a month. That’s a reference to Trump being the 45th and 47th presidents, but it’s also nearly 20% more expensive than the equivalent plan from the three major U.S. phone carriers. In comparison, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile’s prepaid carriers offer unlimited talk, text and data for $40 a month or less. Other MVNOs’ plans are even cheaper.
As for hardware, it’s difficult to know whether the $499 T1 is value for money — not least because Trump Mobile’s announcement omitted basic details like what processor the phone uses. But we do know that, despite the Trump Organization’s claims to the contrary, the phone will likely be made outside the United States. Analysts agree it would be “completely impossible” for the phone to be assembled or manufactured in the U.S.– even though the president recently threatened a 25% tariff on iPhones that aren’t made in America.
But if this venture was unrelated to the sitting president and his family’s organization, antimonopoly advocates could still welcome the added competition — which brings us to Trump’s role in competition policy.
Not only are there just three major phone carriers in the U.S., most Americans’ cellphones are made by two companies — Apple and Samsung. Under the first Trump administration, the already concentrated market further consolidated from four to three large players after the Justice Department approved the T-Mobile Sprint merger in 2019. The two companies claimed they needed to combine in order to compete with AT&T and Verizon “more effectively,” and that they would offer consumers and businesses “lower prices [and] greater competition” while creating “thousands of new American jobs.” In reality, this deal resulted in higher prices and a number of layoffs despite the promise of new jobs.
Even the use of Android presents a conflict.
If President Trump wanted to make cellphones more affordable for Americans, he could direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Justice Department’s antitrust division to examine past telecommunications mergers and break them up if they violated antitrust laws or settlement agreements with the federal government to open up price and quality competition in the U.S. market.
Instead, we’re getting yet another celebrity-backed mobile brand — plus a host of ethical conflicts. The president wields tremendous power over Apple, Samsung and other device manufacturers through his chaotic tariff policy — which will now affect any phones Trump Mobile makes overseas. A major carrier could curry favor with the Trump family by buying Trump Mobile, as T-Mobile bought Mint Mobile in 2023.
Even the use of Android presents a conflict. The first Trump administration — along with 38 bipartisan state attorneys general — sued Google for monopolizing the internet search market, and the second Trump administration’s DOJ is seeking remedies against the company — including selling off business units.
At the same time, the second Trump administration is kneecapping agencies that are responsible for regulation and oversight — including the FCC, which just so happens to regulate the telecommunications industry. This administration has already politicized the agency, only approving Verizon’s purchase of a broadband internet provider after the company removed its diversity, equity and inclusion policy. The administration has also gutted anti-corruption efforts at the DOJ, including firing nearly 20 inspectors general who prevent corruption, fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars across federal agencies. In addition, companies that donated to the inauguration have seen lawsuits and enforcement actions dropped as well as policy wins.
A majority of Americans already recognize that President Trump isn’t doing enough to lower everyday costs. His sons may be the face of Trump Mobile, but the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Without disrupting the status quo, Trump Mobile appears to be the latest Trump-branded venture that is hurting — not helping — Americans.